Hi there,

I see you posted your question a while ago, but I felt compelled to answer. I looked into natural/ BHRT. In Canada, we do not have government healthcare per say, but small insurance premiums paid to gevernment plans in each province, depending on income and family size. The most a family will ever pay in my province (British Columbia) is currently $108/month regardless of how big their family unit is. Single people cost $54 per month, and many employers will pay that fee. Just about every necessary medical service is covered if it is "standard medicine". Alternative health treatments are not covered. So, synthetic HRT would be covered, but not BHRT.

Family physicians are not government employees, they hold private practices and work at private not-for-profit hospitals, and they bill the provincial medical services plan on a fee for service basis. Government medical services plans will not pay them for performing natural therapies. Services of doctors who opt to practice alternative therapies do so without government compensation. Health consumers who choose alternative options must either pay out of pocket to private for profit clinics/ naturopaths, or in some cases, will be covered under private extended health packages bought by their employer. I found one private women's health clinic that charges $1600 per year , and I'm not sure if that includes the medications or just the tests and consultations.

The standard conventional wisdom here seems to be that conventional medicine is best. Perhaps our current government is in bed with the drug companies now. We used to have more options available for alternative/ naturopathic medicine. Our system is not perfect, but it does cover the basics, and the essentials for everyone, so no one has to wait until they are in need of the emergencyroom before they get a health concern looked at, and they are free to go a medical doctor anytime they wish. However, natural medicine is not considered essential...perhaps that will evolve to meet the growing demands for it.

Thank you so much for taking the time to post such an informative reply! I deeply appreciate it.......wishing everyone a balanced, happy day!